Trimming device for sewing-machines.



I PATENTED JUNE 16, 1903. I J. M. MERROW. TRIMMING DEVICE FOR SEWING MACHINES.

APPLICATION FILED FEB. 14, 1902 2 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

N0 MODEL.

@ii itjjij 'INVENTU 4 14- wmwavs- PETERS no. woraumun WASHINGYD PATENTED JUNE 16, 1903.

J. M. MBRROW. TRIMMING DEVICE FOR SEWING MACHINES.

APPLICATION FILED FEB. 14, 1902.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

N0 MODEL.

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ITNBSSES- INVENTUR; aim/MA UNITED STATES Patented June 16, 1903.

PATENT OFFICE.

JOSEPH M, MERROW, OF MERROW, CONNECTICUT, ASSIGNOR TO THE MERROIV MACHINE COMPANY, OF HARTFORD, CONNECTICUT, A CORPORATION OF CONNECTICUT.

TRIMMING DEVICE FOR SEWING-MACHINES.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 730,946, dated June 16, 1903.

7 Application filed February 14,1902. Serial No. 94,114. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, JosEPH M. MERROW, a

citizen of the United States, residing at Merrow, in the county of Tolland and State of Connecticut, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Trimming Devices for Sewing-Machines; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exapt description of the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this specification, and to the figures of reference marked thereon. This invention has for its object the provision of trimming mechanism for sewingmachines, together with means whereby the clippings or waste occasioned by the trimming operation are caused to pass from the machine.

In the machine shown in the drawings the trimming device and elements related thereto are illustrated as applied to a form of overseam sewing-machine which is adapted to be fitted up with a variety of stitch-forming implements and mechanisms and combinations thereof whereby a very wide range of work upon material of widely varied character may be produced. This invention, however, relating, as it does, more particularly to the operation of trimming in advance of the needle simultaneously with the sewing, as would be desirable when overseaming, only portions of the stitch-forming implements of the machine designed to produce an overseamingstitch are shown.

Briefly describing this invention, a pair of knives is located in advance and somewhat to the right of the needle as the machine is viewed from its front side. One of these knives is secured to an arm carried on a longitudinallyadjustable rock shaft. Means are provided for adjusting and actuating the rock-shaft to cause the knife carried on the arm thereof to cooperate with the companion (relatively stationary) knife. The stationary knife is secured to and forms a part of one side of achute located beneath the workplate. The vibrating knife so engages the stationary knife that the cuttings or waste occasioned by the trimming operation pass downward through an opening in the workplate and are conducted out of the machine by the chute. The distance between the knives and the needle may be increased or diminished, as will be more fully set forth hereinafter j In the drawings, Figure "1 is a front elevation of the machine with portions removed to better disclose thetrimmiug mechanism. Fig. 2 is an end view of the machine, partly broken away, as seen when looking from the left hand of Fig. 1. .Fig. 3-i's a plan view, on an increased scale, of the chute and workplate and parts supported thereby and also shows in section the adjacent portion of theis a verticalcross-sectional view of the chute.

Like reference-numerals refer to the same 0 parts in all the drawings.

Referring to the drawings, the number 10 denotes the upwardly-extending portion of the frame of the machine-which is located at one end of a base-plate 11 and of which it is preferably an integral part.

The number 1O denotes the overhanging arm of the frame, 10 the head, and 12 a cap secured to the said head.

The main shaft is denoted by the number 13 and is located in the upper portion of the frame and extends through the arm 10. Shaft 13 is provided at one end with a driving-pulley 14 and at the other end, within the head 10 ,With a disk 15, and a link-16 serves to com meet the disk 15 with the needle-bar 17 in order thatthe rotation of the shaft 13, through the medium of the said disk and link, shall efiectthe vertical reciprocation of the needle-bar 17in its hearings in the cap 12. The needle 19 is secured to the needle-bar 17, as is also a looper 20. The work-plate 22 is located beneath the overhanging arm 10 and is supported on and securedto lugs10 10, formed on the frame 10. Other supports for the work-plate are provided extending upward from the base 11, one of which is denoted by the number 11 and the other of which is the top of the chute-frame 21, to which the work-plate is secured by the screw 68. The work-plate is provided with an opening 22, partly for the purpose. of conveniently supporting the lower end of the looper-carrier extension 349 and partly for a passageway for waste clippings, as will be further explained hereinafter. The work-plate 22 has ahinged extension 23 provided on its under side with a wall 23, which with a wall 22 and the chute-frame 21, located beneath the work-plate, inclose the feeding and other mechanisms of the machine.

The numbers 28 and 33 denote loopers located, respectively, beneath and above the work-plate and carried on arms 27 and 34, mechanism being provided for driving the said arms to cause the loopers 28 and 33 to coact with the needle 19 and the looper 20, but not illustrated herein, as it forms no part of the present invention.

The number denotes the needle-plate; 42, the feed-dog; 49, the presser-bar, and 50 the presser-foot.

Describing now the trimming mechanism, the work-plate 22 has formed thereon a raised portion 22 which constitutes a housing for the rock-shaft 55, hereinafter designated as the knife-shaft. At each end the housing 22 is provided with end walls 22 22, in which the shaft 55 takes its bearings and-whichserve to support the said shaft. The shaft 55 projects through the bearings 22 and supports an adjustable arm 56, the forward end of which carries the upper or movable knife 57,

adapted to coact with a companion relatively said frame it bearsan arm 59, the outer end of which is jointed to the end of an eccentricrod 60, whose eccentric 61 is located on the main shaft 13. The rotation of the driveshaft 13 through the intermediate mechanism, consisting of the eccentric 61, the eccentric-rod 60, and the arm 59 of'the knifeshaft 55, effects the rocking of the latter and the oscillation of its arm 56, carrying the knife 57.

In order to hold the knife 57 in operative relation to the companion knife 58 and to enable the former to be readily adjusted to meet the adjustment of the latter, an adjusting-screw 62 is mounted in a bearing 10 in the wall of the frame 10, and the headed end of this screw projects through its bearings and is accessible outside the frame, while the inner end of the screw, which is of somewhat reduced diameter and unthreaded, engages a seat in the adjacent end of the trimmer-shaft 55 and preferably containing a disk of rawhide or like substance 55 to prevent wear of the shaft and screw. A spiral spring 63, mounted on the shaft 55 and confined thereon between the wall 22 and a collar 63, secured to the shaft 55, acts with a constant tendency to force the trimmer-shaft 55 longitudinally into close engagement with the screw 62, and consequently to separate the knives 57 58instead of serving to hold the said knives together, as has heretofore been the ofiice of similar springs mounted upon the rock-shaft of a vibrating cutter. Through the medium of the adjusting-screw 62 and the spring 63 the shaft 55 may be adjusted longitudinally to any desired position within suitable limits and the knife 57 thus caused to properly coact with the knife 58, all lost motion that might otherwise exist between the shaft and the screw being taken up by the spring 63 The adjusting-screw 62 is provided outside the frame 10 with a check-nut 64 of lever form to lock the screw.

In arranging the adj isting-screw 62 to force the knives 57 58 together and adapting the spring tovhold the rock-shaft in engagement with the said screw in the manner shown and described the vibra'ting knife is held positively in cutting contact with the fixed knife, and therefore there is no possibility of the separation of the knives when operating on thick fabric or material that might otherwise clog between and force or spring the said knives apart.

To admit of the described lateral adjustment of the trimmer-shaft 55 without necessitating a change in the location of the arm 59 or of the eccentric 61 upon their respective shafts, the eccentric-rod is formed with a forked or bifurcated end, the members 1 60 60 of which carry apivot-pin 60, constituting the piutle or journal connection for the arm 59 and of sufficient length to permit of its lateral movement thereon in unison with the longitudinal adjustment of the shaft 55. To guard against lateral or sidewise play of the rod, 60, a recessed block 65 is secured to the inner face of the wall of the frame 10, and the bifurcated end of the eccentric-rod 6O vibrates within the recess65 of the said block, between the guide-wall 65" thereof and a guide or finished spot 10 on the frame 10. The recessed block 65, while in no wise preventing the movement of the end of the eccentric-rod 60 in. oscillating the arm 59, pivoted thereto, nor the adjustment of the latter upon the pivot-pin 60, effectually prevents endwise play of the eccentric-rod.

It will be observed that by projecting the end of the rock-shaft carrying the arm 59 into the machine casing or housing 10 and locating the said arm and the mechanism for actuating the same within the casing or housing such mechanism is removed from View, is outof the way of the operatorof the machine, and is protected by the casing or housing from FIG dust and dirt and from entanglement with parallel with the length of the machine and has feet 21 atv each end, by which it is secured to the base The reference-number 21 denotes an inclined surface formed on the chute-frame 21 and constitutes the chute proper. One side of the inclined surface is bounded bya vertical wall 21 and the opposite side by a vertical wall 21, and at its rear it is bounded by the back wall 21, preferably of sheet metal, and secured to the frame 21 by screws, as shown. The top of the back wall 21 of the chute is illustrated as extending upward to the plane of the top of the work-plate; but it is purposed to extend it farther upward in certain cases, as found desirable, to prevent any waste or clippings from encumbering the looping apparatus or other parts of the machine.

The walls 21, 21, and 21 serve to inclose the inclined surface 21 on three sides, leaving an opening in the front of the chute. The wall 21 is cut away near the back side of the chute and the otherwise open space is filled by the lower cutter 58, from the lower edge of which a second inclined surface 21 leads onto the surface 21. The opening 22 in the work-plate 22 admits of the engagement of the knives 57 58 in the manner shown and also permits the clippings from the knives to pass down thechute and away from the machine.

The lower edge of the knife 58 rests on a shoulder 21 on the chute-wall 21, Fig. 1, and the front portion of the upper edge of said knife fits against the under surface of the work-plate,which plate,with the shoulder 21 forms a groove or seat in which the knife 58 is secured by a screw 66.

The reference-number 67 denotes a shim, one or more of which of different thicknesses may be placed at the side of the knife 58, or the shims may be omitted entirely, as demanded, to vary the distance between the knife 58 and the needle 19.

The cutting edge of the knife 58 extends upwardly to or slightly above the plane of the top of the needle-plate. This construction admits of the knife being readily placed" and secured in position beneath the workplate, but with its cutting edge extending upward to or above the top of the work-plate and in position for contact with the upper knife. A

The wall 21, in addition to supporting the knife 58, also serves as a support for the work-plate 22, as before mentioned, the said plate being secured to the chute-frame by a screw 68, which in this instance also serves to secure in place one end of the needle-plate 25, which is further supported at its rear end where it is secured to the work-plate by a screw 68.

To enable the trimming-knives 57 58 to be set very closely to the line in which the needle penetrates the fabric, the needle-plate 25 is of the peculiar outline shown in Fig. 3- that is, in advance of the finger 25 the edge of the needle-plate is recessed, as at 25, to receive the operative portions of the said knives, as clearly shown in the said figure.

The needle-plate 25 is also provided wit-h a slot 25 for the reception of the feed-dog 42, which latter is omitted in Fig. 3 to avoid confusion.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. In a sewing -machine the combination with a longitudinally-adj ustable knife-carryin g rook-shaft, a knife carried thereby and an operating-arm on said shaft, of a drive-shaft, an eccentric and'rod operated thereby, a fixed guide to hold said rod against movement longitudinally with the rock-shaft, a sliding jointedconnection between the operating-arm and drive-rod and a relatively fixed knife cooperating with the movable knife; substantially as described.

2. In a sewing-machine trimmer, the combination with a knife, a longitudinally-adjustable knife-actuating rock-shaft and a main shaft, of mechanism for driving the rock-shaft embodying aneccentric located on the main shaft, an eccentric strap and rod, an arm on the rock-shaft connected therewith, the eccentric-rod being bifurcated at its end of connection-with the rock-shaft arm, and the latter being journaled and movable longitudinally of said journal in said bifurcated end and guiding-surfaces at either side of the bifurcated end of the eccentric-rod to prevent movement thereof longitudinally of the rockshaft substantially as described.

In a sewing-machine trimmer, the combination with a work-plate formed integrally with a raised shaft-housing having bearings for the reception of a longitudinally-adjustable knife-actuating rock-shaft and a longitudinal'lyadjustable knife -actuating rockshaft, a knife carried thereby, of mechanism substantially as described for driving the said shaft and embodying an arm on the rockshaft, an eccentric-rod with bifurcated end, a sliding connection between the said arm and bifurcated end, an overhanging block having a guide-surface for one side of the said eccentric-rod end and a second guide-surface upon the frame of the machine-for the opposite side of said rod end to prevent sidewise play thereof; substantially as described.

4. In a sewing-machine, the combination with an upper trimming-knife, a rock-shaft for operating the same, and a lower stationary knife, of mechanism for adjusting the rock-shaft longitudinally embodying a screw cooperating with the shaft to hold the upper knife in positive operative engagement with the lower stationary knife, and a spring mounted on the rock-shaft and exerting its pressure in a direction tending to separate the cutters and serving to hold the shaft in engagement with its screw, substantially as described.

JOSEPH M. MERROVV.

Witnesses:

MORTON O. TALCOTT, ALONZO M. LUTHER.

ICO 

